While every American of voting age can tell you where the President of the United States lives (we hope, anyway), most would probably have to do a Google search to come up with Number One Observatory Circle, which is located on the grounds of the United States Naval Observatory, and is the official residence of the Vice President of the United States. That doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue like The White House, or even Number 10 Downing Street – the residence of the British Prime Minister. And for the record, as long as we’re playing “name that residence”, the number two guy in the U.K. – the Chancellor of the Exchequer – lives at Number 11 Downing Street right next door to his boss.

At any rate, the VP’s home is a stately one, built in the Queen Anne style nearly 120 years ago. Thus it is a rather big house with a lot of rooms, which could be why Vice President Joseph Biden decided to pick up a Panasonic Viera TV during a Costco run on Thursday. He picked up the set along with other essentials including children’s books and fresh pastries (hey, the man clearly likes pie) at the warehouse shopping club. We’d think the man who is just a heartbeat away from the big seat would have someone to do this shopping for him, but, of course, this was a PR stunt, as it was the first Costco to open in the District of Columbia.

But back to his decision to buy an HDTV.

Who hasn’t made an impulse buy at Costco or Sam’s Club? But a 32-inch set? Say it ain’t so, Joe! We would hope that Number One Observatory Circle would already have a kicking home theater system in place – though perhaps nothing quite as posh as the White House theater, which is located in the East Wing and ]apparently includes a 3D projector. So why would the Veep pick up a set that is probably smaller what many middle class Americans already have in their living room? And where is the home theater in a box to go with it? He isn’t really going to rely on the built-in speakers is he?

As this was for a photo op, we can only assume that this was the largest set that would fit on the Costco cart. Pus, it would have looked bad to have secret service agents lugging a 65-inch plasma around the store. So perhaps Biden wanted to strike a chord with the common man, but could this be a message of screen equality, or home theater redistribution? Let’s just hope Joe has someone to help him set up the TV.